Turnabout of Secrecy
by Nightflame203
Summary: 17 years in the future, Phoenix Wright is happy. He has a family, and his job as a defense attorney is going well. That is, until his own daughter gets arrested for a murder she supposedly committed. Will Phoenix successfully prove his teenage girl innocent, or will he suffer watching her be thrown in prison? Rated t for some implied content that might make readers uncomfortable
1. Prologue

**Heeeey, guys! I know I haven't been very active recently, but I've been busy, Oh, well, I've had enough time to get sucked into a new fandom xD The Phoenix Wright fandom! I'm not even a week into the fandom yet, so this fanfiction might be kinda rough, but here goes xD**

 **Also, if you're wondering, this fanfiction is more based around the (non-canon to the game) manga than the actual series of games or the anime. I have seen the anime and read the manga, but that's it. I am aware this timeline won't match up with the canon one, but think of this as another universe if you must xD**

 **I DO NOT OWN PHOENIX WRIGHT. ANY CHARACTER YOU DO NOT RECOGNIZE IS PROBABLY MINE**

A muffled giggle of a young girl came from a locked room nearby. "Well, I'd better get going. I told my parents it wouldn't be a sleepover."

A few minutes later, Mia Wright exited the room and made her way to the door. She stopped straight in her tracks upon reaching the living room. "W-What?!"

A dead body was lying on the ground. It... That was HIS corpse. But what had happened?!

Feeling sick, like she was about to vomit, Mia collapsed onto the couch. "No... How...?"

She barely noticed when the police entered the scene. "Detective Gumshoe!" a woman cried. It sounded distance-like to Mia, as if she was in some sort of foggy reality. "It was her! I came home, and THIS is what I saw!"

"You're under arrest, ma'am!" Mia felt Gumshoe fit the handcuffs on her wrist, but she didn't even process it. As she was dragged out of the house, she fell unconscious.

She didn't fully understand what she had seen until she woke up later in a jail cell.


	2. Chapter 1

**I DO NOT OWN PHOENIX WRIGHT. ANY CHARACTER YOU DO NOT RECOGNIZE IS PROBABLY MINE**

Phoenix Wright bit his lip and glanced over at the clock. _Where is she...?_

His daughter, Mia, still hadn't returned home, and it was almost 11:30 PM. An hour after her curfew. Mia had mentioned she was going over to a friend's house, but she had promised she would be back by 10:30. She had gone out to see her friends in the evening before and returned home in time, so her parents continued to trust her to do so. It was strange for her to so blatantly break the rules like this...

Phoenix's wife, Julie, had gone to bed almost forty minutes before, leaving him up to wait for their daughter. He was fighting the urge to fall asleep himself in case something important happened.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Phoenix shot to his feet from where he was almost asleep on the couch to open the door...to see a familiar detective standing at the door. "Gummy...? What is it?" Phoenix frowned in concern. This wasn't good. Detective Dick Gumshoe only appeared to him when there was a murder.

Gumshoe inhaled deeply. "Sorry to bother you at such a late hour, pal, but this is important. Mia Wright _is_ your daughter, right?"

Phoenix's frown deepened. "Yes, she is... Did something happen to her?!"

"Physically, she's perfectly fine," Gumshoe reassured. "But we were forced to arrest her."

"Arrest her?!" Phoenix repeated in shock, unable to believe his ears. "But what did she do?!"

"Nothing is confirmed at the moment." Gumshoe sighed. "But a little over an hour ago, we found her alone at a crime scene. She was sitting in front of a dead body."

" _What_?!"

Gumshoe flinched. "The poor girl didn't even react when I put handcuffs around her. I tried to interrogate her back at the station, but she was too shell-shocked to say much at first. Then she just refused to talk; I don't know why. If she's innocent, you'd think she'd be willing to defend herself as viciously as possible. Especially with you as her father."

Phoenix crossed his arms, scowling. "Don't tell me you actually believe she did it!"

Gumshoe's eyes widened. "Of course I don't, pal! I know she's innocent- I know her well enough to know she'd never do something like that. But the rest of the police force doesn't have the same mindset as me, and we had a witness claim she saw the whole thing."

"Well, I'm absolutely defending her. When's the trial?"

"I'm not sure," Gumshoe admitted. "Not many are aware of the murder right now, but the police are probably calling the court as we speak. I'd say a good guess would be in two days."

Phoenix nodded thoughtfully. "It's not public yet?"

"Not yet, pal, but I'm doing everything I can in my power to keep it that way. You know how the media is; despite all my effort, this will be all over Japan in a few hours at most." Gumshoe frowned. "Everyone will think the daughter of a defense attorney is a murderer. If Mia gets a guilty verdict at the trial, it could slaughter your reputation."

Phoenix scowled again. "I don't care about my freaking reputation! I just care about proving my daughter innocent!"

"N-Nick? What's all the noise?"

The two men turned to see a young woman with long brown hair was watching them with wide brown eyes. She stood hugging herself in her nightgown. As soon as she spotted Gumshoe, she blushed in embarrassment and began to bite her nails. "O-Oh... Hello, D-Detective."

Gumshoe looked away awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's nice to see you again, Mrs. Wright."

"Nick, what's he doing here?" the woman asked nervously. "And where's Mia?"

"Julie..." Phoenix inhaled deeply and explained everything to her that he was just told.

Julie's eyes filled with tears, and she bit down hard on her thumbnail again- a bad habit she fell into whenever she was nervous. Phoenix hugged her tightly. "Hey, don't worry, Jules. We both know she's innocent, and I'm going to prove it. Okay?"

Julia nodded weakly as Phoenix gently pulled her hand away from her mouth. "Y-You're right..." She took in a deep breath.

Gumshoe looked away, obviously feeling awkward at seeing this intimate exchange. Phoenix chuckled weakly and backed away from his wife. "Sorry."

"I should probably get going," Gumshoe admitted. "It's practically midnight. I did what I came here to do, anyway."

"Alright." Phoenix nodded. "Thank you for letting us know, Gummy. We'll be at the station tomorrow to visit Mia."

"Understood." Gumshoe nodded in return. "If I don't see you tomorrow, I guess I'll see you at the trial. Good luck, pal."

 **In case you're curious, Julie is a character originally from the second P.W. manga. She appears as the hostess of the Sparklestar show in Turnabout Showtime**


	3. Chapter 2

**I DO NOT OWN PHOENIX WRIGHT. ANY CHARACTERS YOU DO NOT RECOGNIZE ARE PROBABLY MINE**

The next morning, as soon as Phoenix and Julie were ready, they hurried over to the police station. Pretty soon, they were sitting with Mia in the visitors' room. Mia was sitting silently in her chair, staring down at her lap. It reminded Phoenix of how Maya had looked when they first met.

"Hey, Mia," he said softly, wishing he could fulfill his urge to give her a gentle hug. "How are you feeling?"

"I-I'm okay," she whispered. "I-I just...h-had never seen a d-dead man before. H-How do you handle it...?"

Phoenix hesitated. He had probably just grown so accustomed to murder cases that he had stopped feeling too bothered by the gore. Poor Mia, however, had suffered her very first view of a result of homicide- in some of the worst circumstances possible, as well. She seemed to actually be handling the situation fairly well.

Luckily, Mia asked another question before he could reply. "Y-You guys don't think I d-did it, right...?"

"Oh, Mia..." Phoenix exchanged a glance with Julie and shook his head firmly. "Absolutely not. You know I'm going to defend you in the trial, right?"

Mia smiled weakly, meeting his eyes. "T-Thanks, Dad."

"So can you tell us what happened yesterday night?"

"Well..." Mia hesitated. "I-I walked into the room, a-and found the victim lying dead on the floor with a stab wound in his back..."

"But what were you doing before you walked into the room?" Phoenix asked gently. "You said you were at a friend's house, right? How did you wind up at the victim's house?"

Just like that, Mia's gaze fell back into her lap. She didn't reply.

Phoenix frowned. "Mia, you know I can't do as much to help if I don't know everything, right?"

"Y-You don't need that information," Mia whispered hoarsely. "I have confidence in you, D-Dad. You can do this without that."

"Mia...?"

However, Mia didn't say anything else. Phoenix bit his lip. It was nice to know his daughter trusted him enough to be able to solve the case without all the information, but he couldn't understand; what could be so bad that Mia didn't feel like she could tell her own father- and now lawyer? She wasn't the murderer, so she surely couldn't have something too horrible to reveal...

As Phoenix fell silent, Julie took over. "Mia, have you been treated well? They haven't hurt you at all, right?"

"No..." Mia met her mother's eyes. "Detective Gumshoe tried interrogating me, then everyone left me alone in the cell."

Julie exhaled slightly. "That's good." She pressed her fist into her palm. "If they had done something else, I..."

Phoenix placed his hand on her arm. "Jules."

Mia chuckled softly. "It's okay, Mom. I don't have a scratch on me." She inhaled deeply. "I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow, right?"

Phoenix frowned slightly. Their visiting time was probably about to end. "Yes, I suppose. Good luck in there, sweetheart. I'll figure this out."

Mia gave him a weak smile. "I know you will, Dad."

 **(...)**

After Phoenix and Julie left the station, Phoenix's phone began to buzz. "Hello?"

"Nick! I just learned what happened to Mia! I can't believe it!"

Phoenix chuckled softly. "Hey, Maya. So you know now, too?"

"Yeah, and it's so stupid! Mia wouldn't hurt a fly!" His friend sounded really mad.

"Unfortunately, that won't be enough to secure Mia a 'Not guilty' verdict," Phoenix reminded her. "Are you almost ready to investigate?"

"Absolutely!" Phoenix pictured her nodding with determination on the other end of the call. "I'll meet you at the crime scene in a few minutes!"

"You know the address, right?" Phoenix checked.

"Yep!"

"Great. Then I'll see you there, Maya."

Julie watched as Phoenix slipped his phone back into his pocket. "So if you're going to start investigating what happened, I should probably go on and head home."

Phoenix nodded reluctantly. "Yeah. You should rest before the trial tomorrow, okay?" He gently grabbed her hand. "I understand how stressful this is, but unfortunately, the trial won't help lessen that stress. We know our daughter's innocent, but she was arrested for a reason. There is a basis on which to accuse her of the murder, and I can say with certainty that basis will be thrown at us time and time again."

"You're right." Julie sighed, hugging herself. "I never thought our own little girl would wind up in this position..." She shook her head sadly. "Well, I'll be at home if you need me."

"Got it."

 **(...)**

Sure enough, Phoenix found Maya standing outside the apartment complex where the murder was committed. "You look calmer now than you sounded earlier," Phoenix commented when he spotted his friend.

Maya sighed. "There's no point in being so angry. The police are just doing their job- it's not their fault we have personal ties to the prime suspect."

Phoenix gave a single nod before looking up at the apartment complex. "Apparently, the victim was found dead in his own living room. It's not quite a locked room mystery, but it sounds like it might be as rough as one."

"But what was Mia even doing here in the first place, Nick?" Maya asked curiously as they headed inside. "She definitely had the bad luck of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but why was she in the wrong place?"

"I don't know," Phoenix sighed. "Mia refused to say anything; I came here straight from visiting her. I'm concerned that if I can't get that information out of her, I won't be able to prove her innocence."

"Well, maybe we'll find stuff at the crime scene," Maya reminded him, hope glittering in her eyes. "The truth always makes itself known, after all."

Phoenix nodded in agreement, smiling at her optimism. "Yeah, you're right." At that moment, they entered the apartment where Mitchell Ingleman was murdered.

"Glad to see you two could make it," Gumshoe commented as soon as they set foot in the apartment.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Phoenix replied. "What have you found?"

Gumshoe frowned. "Unfortunately, lots of the evidence we've found points to Mia as the criminal. Obviously, that's not true, but I'm not sure what can be done to prove her innocence."

Phoenix frowned in concern. "What have you found?"

"A knife with Mia's fingerprints and the victim's blood, for one thing." Gumshoe sighed. "And the autopsy revealed the knife was the murder weapon- Mr. Ingleman lay on the floor of his own home, bleeding to death from the stab wound."

"Are there any witnesses of what happened?" Phoenix demanded.

"We have one so far," Gumshoe replied, glancing at the ground. "She claims to know exactly what happened between Mia and Mr. Ingleman."

"She's an _eyewitness_?!" Maya gasped.

"That information is confidential, I'm afraid."

"Right." Phoenix nodded in understanding, despite the dread he felt creeping up inside him. If there was an eyewitness, that would make this case much more difficult.

"Detective Gumshoe!" Everyone whirled around to see a police officer racing into the apartment. "We might have just found more evidence outside!"

"Outside?" Phoenix echoed, confused.

The police officer held up a clear bag. "It appears to be a pair of white latex gloves, covered in blood. They will have to be tested in the lab."

"Definitely." Gumshoe studied the bag carefully. "Where outside did you find these?"

"The dumpster."

Phoenix and Maya exchanged a glance, and Phoenix felt his hopes begin to rise again. If the true murderer used those gloves to cover their fingerprints, then this would be the first bit of real evidence for Mia's defense they'd have.

All Phoenix could do with that, however, was cross his fingers and hope the test results came back in their favor.


End file.
